Anti-grease chemicals used in fast food wrappers can accumulate in organs, study finds

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Consumer Affairs - 3/30/3017 - Amy Martyn - Is replacing older fluorinated chemicals with new fluorinated chemicals the answer? For a brief period several years ago, Danish people faced a bleak prospect: life without home popcorn. Denmark’s largest grocery retailer, a company called Coop Denmark, in 2015 decided to pull all microwave popcorn from its shelves because of the anti-grease chemicals that coat the inside of the bag. Fluorinated chemicals such as PFOAs are an important component of products that are stain-resistant, grease-resistant, or waterproof, making this class of chemicals especially popular in the use of non-stick pans, the wrappers surrounding fast foods, and the paper bags that help turn kernels into oily popcorn, to name just a few. But the major problem with these fluoride-based chemicals, as researchers have documented for decades, is that they are so strong they never break down in nature. And that persistence could have dangerous implications for human health. “Chemicals that don’t break down should not be used unless they’re actually necessary,” Dr. Arlene Blum, director of the California-based Green Science Policy Institute, tells ConsumerAffairs. Read more @ https://www.consumeraffairs.com/news/an ... 33017.html